FLAC 1.5.0 Released: Multithreaded Encoding & More!

The Free Lossless Audio Codec (FLAC) has just received a major update with the release of FLAC 1.5.0, bringing long-awaited improvements and new features for audio enthusiasts and developers alike. This update introduces multithreaded encoding, improved decoding capabilities, and various optimizations across the board.

What is FLAC?

FLAC stands for Free Lossless Audio Codec, an audio format similar to MP3, but lossless, meaning that audio is compressed in FLAC without any loss in quality. This is similar to how Zip works, except with FLAC you will get much better compression because it is designed specifically for audio, and you can play back compressed FLAC files in your favorite player (or your car or home stereo, see supported devices) just like you would an MP3 file.

Key Highlights

🚀 Multithreaded Encoding

For the first time, FLAC encoding is now multithreaded, significantly improving performance, especially on multi-core processors. This enhancement applies both to the libFLAC library and the FLAC command-line tool, making it a major leap forward in efficiency.

🎵 Improved Decoding

FLAC 1.5.0 also expands its decoding capabilities. The decoder can now handle chained Ogg FLAC files, ensuring better support for various file structures and improving playback reliability.

🛠 Library Updates & Fixes

• libFLAC version incremented to 14 and libFLAC++ version to 11 due to interface changes.
• Metadata handling improvements: It is now possible to write metadata changes to a new file instead of overwriting the original file.
• Better error handling: The library now returns errors for missing frames and improves handling of seektables.
• Ogg FLAC Enhancements: Most level 0 metadata functions now support Ogg FLAC files.
• Refinements in ‘loose mid-side’ encoding algorithm: Optimized for multithreading with a fast heuristic approach.

🔧 Command-Line Tool Improvements

• Enhanced Testing Mode (flac -t): Now parses all metadata blocks and warns about ID3v1 metadata.
• Better Built-in Help & Documentation: The explain option (-H / --explain) is removed in favor of improved manpages and HTML documentation.
• Frame Number Validation: Warns users when frame numbers do not increase correctly.
• MD5 Check on Re-encoding: Ensures re-encoded files remain identical to the original.

🏗 Build System & Other Enhancements

• Android Build Fixes: Now supports older API versions (< 24).
• Emscripten Compatibility: Enables FLAC to be built for WebAssembly environments.
• Improved Fuzzing & Validation: Enhancements in allocation failure fuzzing and other stability checks.
• RFC 9639 Compliance: The FLAC format is now formally documented as an IETF RFC.

Download FLAC 1.5.0

The latest FLAC release is available for download from GitHub and other official sources.

Release notes are available here: https://github.com/xiph/flac/releases/tag/1.5.0

Package Checksums (SHA-256)

• Source Code: flac-1.5.0.tar.xz – f2c1c76592a82ffff8413ba3c4a1299b6c7ab06c734dee03fd88630485c2b920
• Windows Binary: flac-1.5.0-win.zip – 53f1500f0d6e7c61379d7fee50d4a9f7f504c650009506d9ba015530d76c0dde

Conclusion

FLAC 1.5.0 is a significant step forward for the popular lossless audio codec, making encoding faster, improving decoding, and enhancing metadata handling. With these updates, FLAC continues to be a top choice for high-quality, open-source audio compression.

Upgrade today and experience the improvements firsthand!